Air driven cotton picker head



0. ONSRUD AIR DRIVEN COTTON PICKER HEAD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fizz/372107" m QM n NQ Km MW 6 bw m \m x N Dec. 15, 1931. QNSRUD 1,836,547

AIR DRIVEN COTTON PICKER HEAD 2 Sheet-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 15, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE oscan onsmm, or cmcaeo, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNoR TO L. L. vALmrrIma' or omoaeq; rumors v ,1 Q

AIR DRIVEN COTTON PICKEB HEAD Application liled September 13, 1926. Serial No. 135,059.

Cotton has been successively harvested means of a picker head secured to the end of a suction pipe and containing revolving brushes or other elements adapted :to pull the cotton fibre from its seats in the boll and,

deliver it' into the rearwardly' flowing air current passing through the suction pipe. These picker heads must be comparatively light in order to permit them to be maninpum lated by the operator to bring'them quickly and easily into proximity to one'boll after another and into different positions with re-' spect to each individual boll. Therefore it is necessary that the driving means for the moving elements in such a head be of a type that Wlll not make the head unduly large or heavy or interfere with the free bodily move-' ment of the head during the harvesting operations. Small electric motors mounted on the head, and long flexible shafts extending along the suction conduits have both been used for drivin the mechanism in the head, but neither has een fully satisfactory.

The object of the present invention is to provide a picker head with a'noveldrivi'ng mechanism that will not add greatly to the size or weight of the head, and that has noparts subject to appreciable wear or apt to get out of order so as to re ui'rethe attention of an expert mechanic. r, viewedvin another aspect, my invention may be said to have for its object to provide a picker head with a simple light and compact motor that is eflicient and reliable in operation and possesses great ruggedness and durability, so as to be practically fool-proof in the hands of ignorant persons using the head for harvesting cotton.

Another object of the present invention is to sim lify and improve the construction of one of the most successful types of picker heads as a whole.

The various features of novelty whereby m invention is characterized will hereinafter be ointed out with particularity in the claims; ut, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front view of a picker head constructed in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a partial transverse section taken approximately on a plane passing through the axes of the rotating brushes; Fig. 3 is a section at right angles to the'plane of Fig. 2, through one ofthe caps that serve as bearings for theupper ends of the brushes, together with fragments of the casing and of one of the brushes; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a fragment of the cap shown in Fig. 3, together with a portion of the casing surrounding the cap Fig. 5 is a section taken approximately on line 55 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 6 is a section taken approximately on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, lrepresents a hollow casing tapering from the front toward the rear Where it terminates in a cylindrical neck or sleeve 2 adapted to be inserted in the end of a suction conduit 3. The front end of the casing has therein a large mouth or opening 4 as is usual in devices of this kind. Arranged within the casing, in rear of the mouth or opening, are twoparallel rotatable brush-supporting bodies or cores, 5 and 6, extending between the top and bottom Walls of the casing. The members 5 and 6 may conveniently take the form of wooden cylinders fitted uponsquaredportions 7 of a pair of vertical shafts 8 and 9. Each core has undercut grooves 10 distributed about the same and extending from end to end. Into these grooves are slidably fitted brush backs 11 to which are fixed projecting bristles s5 12. The members 11 of each unit are held in place by means of two sleeves 13 fitted over I the ends of the core and reduced end portions of the member 11. Each sleeve has a flaring outer end 14. The sleeves are held in place, each by a screw 15 introduced intothe end of the core, close to the periphery of the latter, so that the heads of the screws overlap the flaring ends of the sleeves somewhat.

The top of the casing has roundopenings directly above the brushes, each lar e enough to permit the withdrawal of an entire assembled brush unit. These openings are closed by means of disc-likecaps 16 having on theirundersides central bearings 1'1 to receive the cylindrical upper ends 18 of the brush shafts. The top wall of the casing is undercut, as indicated at 19, around the openings therein, and the caps are provided with lips that project laterally slightly from the bottom there of for the purpose of underlyingthe undercut portions around the openings. These lips may conveniently be produced by passing rivets 20 through each of the caps near the margins, and fianging' the lower or inner ends of the rivets so as to cause them to project slightly beyond the peripheries of the caps. In the arrangement shown, there are two of these rivets, arranged diametrically opposite each other. In order to permit the locking lips to' pass up and down through the openings in the casing, notches 21, one'of which is shown in Fig. 4, are out at opposite sides of each of the openings. In order to apply one of the caps, it is positionedover one of the openings, with the locking lips registering with the notches. :The cap is then lowered and turned through a small angle in either direction, until the locking lips pass underneath the overhang. Each cap may be provided with a pair of ears 22 projecting upwardly from the top of the same, to which ears a tool or other implement may be applied for the purpose of turning the cap. When one of the brush units is to be removed, the corresponding cap is turned until its locking lips are brought up opposite the notches at the sides of the opening in the casing, and the cap may then be lifted off. After the cap has been removed, the brush unit may be lift ed bodily from the shaft on which it is mounted, leaving the shaft in the casing. Any in dividual brush may be removed from the unit, by detaching one ,of the sleeves that holds the brushes in place, and then sliding the brush endwise out of its groove.

The parts are so proportioned that the flaring ends of the sleeves on the brush units bear against the under faces of the caps, at

the top, and against the bottom wall of the casing, at the bottom. Cotton or other material is thereby prevented from entering the bearings for the brush shafts. In order to makeit still more difficult for foreign matter to gain access to the shafts, the ends of each;

brush-supporting core are countersunk, as indicated at 23. Each cap has a flange 2 L extending downwardly into the recess in the top of the corresponding core, and the bottom wall of the casing has two sleeves, 25 extending upwardly into the recesses in the lower ends of the .cores.

The two brush shafts extend downwardly throughthe sleeves 25 into a chamber 26 on the underside of the casing. In the lower portion of this chamber are suitable ball bearings 27 for the shafts and, on each shaft, above such bearing, is fixed a gear wheel 28. The two gear wheels mesh with each other, and one of them meshes with a driving pinion 29 on the upper end of a turbine shaft 30 that extends downwardly through the lower wall of the chamber 26 and into an underlying turbine casing 31. The turbine bine wheel 34;. The turbine casing is provided with an inlet nipple 35 lying below "theneck 2 of the picker head. Within the turbine casing isa nozzle 36 connected at its outer end with the nipple and having its inner end positioned to direct a stream of air against'the turbine wheel. Air may be supp'lied,-for rotating therturbine, through a suitable conduit; not'shown, attached to the nipple. p i

The exhaust from the turbine may be utilized to assist in carrying the cotton rearwardly into the suction conduit. In the arrangement shown, the main casing is en larged at the front end of the contracted neck 2,50 as to produce an annular groove 37 extending entirely around the head. This groove is closed by means of a ring 38 fitted into the head and having a series of small ports or passages 39 drilled through the same at points distributed around the ring and extending'through the latter in such directions that their long axes converge at the long axis of the head at some point in rear of the ring. The groove 37 communicates with the interior of the turbine casing suitable guard fingers 41 are placed in the mouth of the picker head, in front of the brushes. Other guard fingers, 42 are placed in the side openings 43 formed in the picker head in rear of the brushes. To the ring 38 are attached rearwa-rdly extending, converging guard fingers 44 that will prevent twigs or the like from being carried rearwardly into the suction conduit;

Assumingthat the suction conduit is con-' nected to a blower, and that air under pressure is being delivered through the nozzle 36 in the turbine, the turbine will be rotated at a'high speed and the-brushes will be driven in opposite directions at a lower speed, through the reduction gearing between the same and the rotor of the turbine; If nowa cotton bell is brought close to the mouth of the picker head, the brushes will pull the fibre from the same and discharge it rearwardly into the head: The air that is being drawn through the mouth of the picker head and the openings in rear of thebrushes, picks up the'cotton and carries it rearwardly into the suction conduit. As the cotton enters the contracted neck at the rear end of the head, it is subjected to the act-ion of the jets from the exhaust of the turbine in such a manner that its speed of travel is increased. In any event, the action of the ets is to blow the cotton rearwardly, away from the head, and insure that it will not stick between the iingers 44 and clog the apparatus.

It will be seen that the addition of the turbine to the picker head adds very little to the weight of the latter, since the bottom of the head forms the top Wall of the turbine casing and, in addition to the casing, the only other added parts are the comparatively light rotor and the bearings therefore. The size of the picker head is not greatly increased by the addition of the turbine, the casing for which has very little depth and a diameter such that it does not project beyond the head in a lateral direction. It will be seen that the mechanism of the turbine consists of a simple rugged rotor and, the bearings of which are effectually housed against the en trance of dust and other foreign matter; so that there is nothing to get out of order, and the head may be used indefinitely by common laborers without any diminution in efficiency. A simple, small flexible air pipe, extending along the large conduit, will serve to supply air to the turbine, without in any way interfering with the freedom of movement of the head. as a whole. The head may therefore be manipulated freely and without causing fatigue to the user, and is practically indestructible even though little or no care is exercised in handling it. As a matter of fact, the only parts that are subject to appreciable wear are the brushes, and my improved means for mounting these permits them to be readily removed and renewed.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which comewithin the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A picker head comprising a. casing having an inlet and an outlet, rotary picker elements arranged in the head adjacent to the inlet and having shafts extending through one of the walls of the head, members co-' operating with each other and with the latter wall to form a turbine casing and between said wall and the casing a gear chamber, a turbine shaft extending into said gear chamber, and gearing in said chamber between the turbine shaft and the picker element shafts.

2. A picker head comprising a casing having three chambers lying above each other, the upper chamber having an inlet mouth and an outlet, rotary picker element-s in the upper chamber having shafts extending into the intermediate chamber, a turbine wheel in the lower chamber having its shaft extending upwardly into said intermediate chamber,

and gearing in said intermediate chamber connecting said shafts together.

3. A picker head comprising a hollow cas ing, a pair of parallel brush units extending across said casing, the wall of the casing at one end of the units having large openings concentric with and of a size to permit the passage of said units, caps closing said open ings, and bearings in the caps for the adjacent ends of the units.

4. A hollow picker head having a rotatable brush unit therein, there being an opening in the wall of the head opposite one end of the said unit large enough to permit the said unit to pass through the same, a cover for said opening constituting also a bearing for the adjacent end of the brush unit, and shoulders on the cover and the head adapted to interlock with each other when the cover is turned to hold the cover in lace.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

OSCAR ONSRUD. 

